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Terraria Fan Ideas Wiki:Admin and Bureaucrat Policy
Administrators Admins are a key group in any community. They are responsible users who have shown they have the experience, ability, and attitude to be accepted as leaders by the community. They are reliable members of the wiki who have been part of the group for a reasonable length of time. They are both the role-models and the rule-keepers for the wiki. They should think of this role as serving the community, helping to maintain and care for it, rather than as a position of power and control. They are equal to other users, but have more responsibility and the permission of the community to make decisions for the group. An admin must act in order to maintain the hairline balance of precise & accurate information and community happiness. This means they are responsible for ensuring that the wiki is not damaged by bad actions, but also that the community as a whole is happy and enjoying their time on the site. An admin is a diplomat. A gifted diplomat has an opinion, but is able to put that aside for the sake of discussion. They look at things in a broader sense than most, and make decisions within that greater scope. In an argument over the choice between a peanut-butter sandwich or jelly sandwich, the gifted diplomat sees the possibility of a peanut-butter and jelly sandwich! Admins are chosen based on their history and involvement with the Terraria Wiki. Their key responsibilities are: * Maintaining the wiki and keeping it clean. * Making decisions on behalf of the community. * Engaging the community, answering questions and helping people out. * Teaching editors how to make good edits and about MediaWiki software. * Enforce the rules of the community, blocking as needed * Managing issues on the wiki, being the moderators and mediators during disputes The ideal admin: * Has a love of and knowledge of Terraria, and the Terraria Fan Ideas Wiki * Is willing to maintain the wiki and has available time to do so * Is kind, friendly and helpful to be helpful to others. * Hates vandalism and has shown they know how to clean it up. * Is willing to learn and listens well to others * Is honest and makes fair and reasonable decisions * Is happy to answer users questions and to deal with disputes. * Is authoritative in their decisions (but not authoritarian) * Makes high quality contributions, with solid spelling and grammar. * Manages to obtain and hold the trust of the community as a whole The admin team should contain people with various skills and specialties. All should have knowledge of the basics of administering a wiki, including some knowledge of (or interest in learning) advanced wiki markup including templates, CSS, and JS. The style of contributions are often more important than the number or type. For example, someone with thousands of small spelling corrections is an asset to the wiki, but may not make as good an admin as someone who shows they have experience in helping others in the community. Admins should have served as a Chat Moderator or Rollback member and used their powers responsibly. Bureaucrats A bureaucrat is an admin with the extra ability to add and remove rights from others. They are chosen from among active admins, and most of their rights and obligations are part of their admin role. As with admins, they are long-standing and knowledgeable contributors, selected from among the most respected members of the community. In the case of a disagreement among admins, bureaucrats can also act as "tie-breakers", helping to find middle ground and selecting the best decision for the community as a whole. In this role, at a least two bureaucrats will look at a deadlocked situation and consider all admin and community views. Both must agree on the final decision (or a clear majority if more than two are involved). Because of this extra responsibility, bureaucrats are expected to be the most responsible and reasonable members of the community. Administrator abilities These additional functions include: * Deleting and undeleting pages, page histories, and uploaded files. * Locking (protecting) a page so it cannot be edited or renamed by users without admin rights or autoconfirmed status. * Blocking IP addresses or user names from editing; and very quick "rollback" of undesirable edits. * Editing the interface by changing system messages and skins. Who are this wiki's administrators? The "founder" of a wiki, the person who first requested it, is given administrator access automatically. Founders are also given bureaucrat access so they can make any other user on their wiki an administrator or bureaucrat. For a complete list of users with administrator access, see . Active Admins in this section have edited recently and will probably respond to messages relatively quickly. Semi-active Admins in this section are more sporadic in their activity. They may still be lurking on the wiki, but they haven't edited in a while. Inactive Admins in this section have not edited or responded to messages recently. Previous administrators Users in this section were previously administrators here. They will not be able to help you out with admin-related tasks. How do I use administrator powers? See for a guide on using admin functions. Becoming an administrator For you to become an administrator, someone with bureaucrat access must make you one. But first you have to be nominated for the role which is done here: Terraria Fan Ideas Wiki:Rights Nominations Once nominated you will go through a lengthy week long nomination where users on the wiki will discuss why you should be an administrator. Once the discussion is over the votes are tallied and it is decided whether the user is granted the rights or not. If there are no active bureaucrats, use the "Terraria Fan Ideas Wiki:Rights Nominations" page to nominate users to become admins or bureaucrats. Once a community decision has been reached (or if there is no active community to debate the decision), please leave a message at the wiki adoption requests page and Wikia Staff can provide the rights. What can administrators not do? Administrators should not use their administrator powers to settle editing disputes; for example, to lock a page on a version he or she prefers in an editing dispute that isn't vandalism. Administrator powers should be used to help keep the wiki clear of vandalism, spam, and users who make malicious edits, but not for simple disagreements between users acting in good faith. Ideally an admin shouldn't be considered "in charge". The ideal admin is just someone who is trusted to have a few extra buttons and to use them for the benefit of the Wikia community. Category:Site administrationCategory:Policy